I have a question....

[aversion]

forgive me if it's been asked before...

one of the annoying things about flash sites, especially large corporate ones, is that you can't bookmark particular parts of them.

is there an answer in actionscript, maybe with flash 5, where you can place a button on the site that would record your place within the movie, can you grab that kind of information??? I would have thought that flash would know where it was.....

even if you have this information though there still has to be a method to implement it....

i'm just wondering if there are any solutions to the bookmarking question?

(remember there are no stupid questions!)

[MasterShin]

There's sure to be a way.
You can put a bottom (or top) bar that has a movie clip that checks varibles all the time, and when it finds one, it creats a button to the varible number that is actually a frame number or lable.

Then you can make a few buttons by putting 5 varibles (example) and then you can have 5 different bookmarks on the movie.

I don't know much of Scripting in Flash, but that's a good way, and if you get some help from Moderators you'll be able to build this.

Hope it helps...
Oh, this is no stupid question, I might even use the answers to this post at my own sites...

[Leo Lima]

No stupid at all.
But, one thing I'd like to know. You want to bookmark inside flash or at the browser's bookmark?
If inside, I can help you with a file (go to http://www.driveway.com/share?sid=fe...90&name=Shared
- that's my shared area with some .fla) named backtrack tutorial.zip . If you need help adapting it to your idea, let me know.

If it's outside flash, I'd be glad if somebody else could explain, I could use the information as well.

Hope this is somewhat useful.
Regards,
Leo Lima
[Edited by Leo Lima on 08-18-2000 at 06:20 PM]

[MasterShin]

I still think my advice is good, it really a good idea - but i don't kbow much about Scripting in Flash , so i'm quite sorry...

Try getting help from other experts...

[Leo Lima]

You can, at the frames you to be bookmarked, label them and make buttons that has goto on them
like this:
I'd like to bookmark 2nd frame of scene 3 and 5
I'd label sec_3 and sec_5, for example
Then, I'd have 2 buttons with Goto and play ("sec_3") and "sec_5"

Or you could do something like in the backtrack file. It's tooooo long to post here. Have it a glance.

Regards,
Leo Lima

[aversion]

interesting, i'll take a look at the backtrack tutorial now.. i'm not much of a whizz with action script but this will help me learn a couple of things for sure.

to answer your question leo lima i was thinking of visitors being able to bookmark parts of a large site within the site, my first thought was that they would be able to do it through a system similar to the 'shortcuts' on my nokia phone, but then i thought that any decent navigation system should be able to get you wherever you want to go with a couple of clicks anyway...

i guess the main thrust of my question then would be a way to 'bookmark' dynamic pages with script delivered content, such as you might get on an ecommerce site. That would be useful, you could create a customer profile and allow them to review their browsing history....

i should have done some more research into this before i posted it up here, but if anyone has any more good ideas....

[Leo Lima]

Sure can do.
Kinda complex for post here though.
If noone else reply you and you still want that stuff, email me so we can work on that.

Regards,
Leo Lima

[MasterShin]

I'm glad you found a solution. So please contact me when you have something ready, i'll make it within my movies to - it's a great idea...
Myabe even make a tutorial for Flashkit...

[radarboy]

We've just recently built a site using bookmarks. We used cookies and the FS command to communicate with javascript to set the bookmark.
hope this helps
g

[MasterShin]

You know something, i thought about that. It's the best way on saving the bookmarks for next time too, and that much hard interact with flash 4. All you need to do is that when there is a bookmark, javascript set visibility property of a hidden button, and onclicking it, it goes to the bookmark - Simple, hugh?

Radarboy, I would be glad to turn your sample to a Flashkit tutorial - If you agree to send me one...

[radarboy]

sure. the site goes live on Tuesday, so I'm a bit strapped for time, after that I'll put up the code. There was a bit of suffering involved getting it to work, not being the javaSript guru I would like to be, and not much out there dealing with this topic, so I'd be happy to save anyone the time and suffering, so they can spend it on more creative persuits.

[MasterShin]

Thanks, I'm sure your site will be a blast.

[Leo Lima]

Let me know when this is done, I'd like to have a look at the FS commands you used to bookmark the flash.

And that e-commerce stuff, you need to create a cookie, read from cookie (I think JS does this) and send the variables back to flash.

Regards,
Leo Lima

[MasterShin]

Actually, it's really easy to use cookies with Flash. It's easy to use cookies in JS, and it's even more easier to send varibles from JS to Flash, so it's all easy!!! If you want to know more, check out the tutorial on how to create a clock in Flash with JS, and then find a tutorial on cookies in JS.

If you don't find any places to learn these subjects, I will be glad to make FlashKit a tutorial on how to send varibles from cookies to Flash.

[aversion]

cool this is looking good! Let us know when that site is up radarboy, maybe we can get lots of people using this system and you will a star :)

[Leo Lima]

Hey MasterShin, what are you waiting for? Go make the tutorial and feed me with a copy

Regards
Leo Lima

[MasterShin]

You know what - I'll do it!!!
In 2 days it will be ready!!!
Just wait and see!!!

It's the first time I'm going to make a real Flash tutorial that will help lots of people!!

[aversion]

great!